Marist were still resting midfielder Josaia Bogileka for his groin injury while, in a blow to their playoff hopes, influential prop Keightley Watson was an 11th-hour scratching following medical advice on Friday.
It was good to see Samu Kubunavanua make his return in the loose forwards for the second 40 minutes, while other standouts were hooker Alesana Tofa with his first-half tackling and reserve halfback Winslin Klassen. Unlucky to be ruled held up when he drove at the try line, Klassen then made the decisive dart that set up skipper Brad Graham to score in the 58th minute to bring Marist in striking distance.
Like Marist with Watson, Kaierau’s playoff plans took a dent when their 2022 Steelform Whanganui prop Tai Pulemagafa suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first half, although led by Raymond Salu, the visitors’ scrum stayed strong.
Lock Josh Lane and flankers Brett Joyes and Doug Horrocks carried the 80-minute cans for their team, while the match saw the surprise return off the bench of former Whanganui winger Karl Pascoe who had previously retired at the start of the season.
Out wide, centre Peceli Malanicagi was a handful with nearly every touch, although Kaierau would rue some of their final passes going down in the first half.
Graham’s try made it game on for the final quarter and, with just three minutes left, flanker Ben O’Leary broke through the line and a floating pass was sent out to unmarked reserve winger Cajun Teki-Botica, only for it to be ruled forward with the try line begging.
“I was standing online with that pass and, hey, I thought it was pretty sweet, but at the end of the day, that’s footy – you take the good with the bad,” said Marist coach Travers Hopkins.
Still, having made squad adjustments, both experimental and forced, he was seeing the positives.
“Getting Samu some footy, as a whole, is going to be good, obviously he’s going to play a pretty big part next week.
“Although we wanted to take care of this [game], first and foremost, we wanted to put in an effort that was proud for our Marist supporters on Club Day, and for ourselves – the boys have worked so bloody hard all year.”
The coach was happy with Tofa’s effort, as Marist will now have to rethink their front row more than intended.
“We’ve been trying for the past couple of weeks to give him a little bit of time there and, dare I say, you don’t want to wish injury on Jack [Yarrall] ... it was just to give some different guys some starting things.
“We didn’t go backwards in the scrums too much, there might have been one that went back, but other than that the boys stood up.
“[Watson] might not be there next week as well. We’ll play with what we’ve got.”
Likewise, with Byford’s Readimix Taihape coming to the Country Club, Kaierau coach Te Ahu Teki wouldn’t dwell too long on a season sweep of Marist.
“It’s always good to come away with a win against our local rival, we’ll take that.
“We tried to do things from the one training we had this week, to do something different, so I think Marist did well to really disrupt a lot of what we tried to do – their line speed was really good.
“But the big positive for us is we actually grinded out the win, we had to really hold out Marist and it came down to the last 20 – I don’t think we’ve really done that since Game 1 against Border.”
The team will also have a rethink without the prospect of Pulemagafa playing.
“We obviously need to get him checked up, not looking good, but I think we’ve got guys who can step into those roles really well.
“He’ll be a big loss but the boys will just have to step up another five per cent each.”
Other work-ons during the week will be lineout cohesion and option-taking when a player makes a break but is isolated from support.
“We missed a few opportunities to execute as well, we probably left 20-25 points out there, and we’ve just got to improve on that next week,” said Teki.
“We can’t do that next week, it’s all on. If we win by 1 or 100 it don’t matter, it’s just about getting over the line and getting that W.”
Kaierau 15 (S Pakinga-Manhire, P Waqatabu tries; Pakinga-Manhire pen, con) bt Marist 10 (B Graham try; D Kauika pen, con). HT: 10-3.
